“Kristallnacht: The Nazi pogroms that began the Holocaust”

Today marks 82nd anniversary of #Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) when Nazis destroyed 7500 Jewish businesses, 275 synagogues and 236 people died including 43 women and 13 children on the night of Nov 9, 1938.

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More than 30,000 Jewish men and teenagers b/w the ages of 16 and 60 which constituted 10% of the entire Jewish community in Germany at that time were arrested and shipped to 3 concentration camps: Sachsenhausen (near Berlin), Buchenwald (near Erfurt), and Dachau (near Munich).

After the violence of #Kristallnacht ended, the persecution continued when oppressive laws were enacted by the Nazis:

1. Jewish children were now prohibited from attending German schools, permitted only to attend segregated schools
2. Jews could no longer drive or own cars

3. Jews were required to close their businesses or sell them to Aryans at reduced prices
4. Jews could no longer attend any public events such as concerts, movies, or fairs

While in the three concentration camps, 5000 Jews died because of abuse and torture by the Nazis.

Even more ignominious was the fact that Jews were blamed for #Kristallnacht. A fine of one billion marks was to be divided among the Jews in Germany for the destruction of property. The fine was the “equivalent of one-sixth of all the property owned by Jews in Germany”.

Orders for the anti jewish pogrom were telegraphed to Gestapo offices around Germany at midnight of #Kristallnacht. The orders included:

“Actions against Jews, especially against their synagogues, will take place throughout the Reich shortly. They are not to be interfered with..

Preparations are to be made for the arrest of about 20,000 to 30,000 Jews in the Reich. Above all well-to-do Jews are to be selected.… Should Jews in possession of weapons be encountered in the course of the action, the sharpest measures are to be taken”

#Kristallnacht

After #Kristallnacht, Jews wished to leave Germany as quickly as possible, but obtaining a visa was very difficult. Switzerland stopped the entry of almost all the Jews. Other countries, including the United States, held fast to the quotas which were already established.

Hitler mocked the countries that were unwilling to help Jews. In a speech to German parliament on January 30 1939, he said:

“The whole democratic world is oozing sympathy for the poor tormented Jewish people,” it “remains hard-hearted and obdurate when it comes to helping them”

In less than a year, Germans would invade Poland, starting World War II. Germany’s borders would be closed, and emigration would no longer be possible, trapping all remaining Jews.

#Kristallnacht was the opening movement of what would soon become the Holocaust.

Nazis had made it clear in their five year rule leading to #Kristallnacht in 1938 that Germany was to be populated with an “Aryan master race,” a term that the Nazis used to mean “pure-blooded German.” Jewish people were a pariah; there was a boycott of their shops and business.

The threat of Nazism is far from over. 1.3 billion people in India are ruled by the Nazi inspired ideology of RSS which considers 200 Indian Muslims as an internet threat. MS Golwalkar who is the ideological father of Indian PM @narendramodi writes about the Nazis in his book:

“To keep up the purity of it's race and culture, Germany shocked the
world by her purging the country of the Semitic races, the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here, a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by"

~ MS Golwalkar, former RSS Chief

While Narendra Modi's views about Golwalkar, who cites Nazism as a guide, in the essay, titled ‘Pujniya Shri Guruji,’ (Guru Worthy of Worship), suggests that Golwalkar is the second most important influence – Vivekanand is the first – on the life of Indian PM @narendramodi.